Multi-carrier design for control and procedures

ABSTRACT

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product operable in a wireless communication system are provided in which a pairing is determined between one or more uplink carriers and one or more downlink carriers. The one or more uplink carriers and the one or more downlink carriers include at least three carriers. On which carrier to exchange control information on one or more of the carriers is based on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e), this application claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/087,959 filed on Aug. 11, 2008,and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/088,321filed on Aug. 12, 2008, the contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communications, and moreparticularly, to multi-carrier design for control and procedures.

2. Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,and broadcasts. These wireless systems may be multiple-access systemscapable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available systemresources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems,Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA)systems.

Wireless communication systems are generally designed to providewireless access to a network (e.g., the Internet) for multiple mobilestations within a geographic region. Access is provided by an accesspoint or base station serving the geographic region. A base station isan apparatus having a radio transceiver to support a wireless accessprotocol (i.e., radio-based communication link) with multiple mobilestations. The wireless access protocol is generally defined by anindustry standard that includes, among other things, the multiple-accesssystem used by the base station to communicate with the mobile stations.

SUMMARY

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method used in a wirelesscommunication system is provided in which a pairing is determinedbetween one or more uplink carriers and one or more downlink carriers.The one or more uplink carriers and the one or more downlink carriersinclude at least three carriers. On which carrier to exchange controlinformation on one or more of the carriers is based on the pairing or ananchor carrier designation.

In another aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus operable in a wirelesscommunication system includes means for determining a pairing betweenone or more uplink carriers and one or more downlink carriers. The oneor more uplink carriers and the one or more downlink carriers include atleast three carriers. The apparatus further includes means forexchanging control information on one or more of the carriers based onthe pairing or an anchor carrier designation.

In another aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus operable in a wirelesscommunication system includes a processing system. The processing systemis configured to determine a pairing between one or more uplink carriersand one or more downlink carriers. The one or more uplink carriers andthe one or more downlink carriers include at least three carriers. Theprocessing system is further configured to exchange control informationon one or more of the carriers based on the pairing or an anchor carrierdesignation.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a computer program product isprovided. The computer program product has code for determining apairing between one or more uplink carriers and one or more downlinkcarriers. The one or more uplink carriers and the one or more downlinkcarriers include at least three carriers. The computer program productalso has code for exchanging control information on one or more of thecarriers based on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a wirelesscommunications system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration for anapparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating uplink/downlink pairing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating uplink/downlink pairing with anchorcarriers.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating the functionality ofan exemplary apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating the functionality ofan exemplary apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the invention are described more fully hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to any specific structure or function presented in thisdisclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosurewill be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of theinvention to those skilled in the art.

The detail description may include specific details to illustratevarious aspects of the invention. However, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without thesespecific details. In some instances, well known elements may be shown inblock diagram form, or omitted, to avoid obscuring the inventiveconcepts presented throughout this disclosure.

Several aspects of a wireless communications system will now bepresented with reference to FIG. 1. The wireless communications system100 may support any number of apparatuses. An apparatus may be an eNodeBor user equipment (UE). In FIG. 1, the wireless system 100 is shown withseveral UEs 102 in communication with an eNodeB (i.e., base station)104. The UEs 102 are shown as are cellular phones, but may be cordlessphones, smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops,personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, global positioningsystems, multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players (e.g.,MP3 player), cameras, game consoles, or any other suitable device havingwireless connection capability. A UE 102 may be referred to as a mobilestation, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, awireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, awireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriberstation, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, aremote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, orsome other suitable terminology. The eNodeB 104 may be referred to as abase station, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, anaccess point, NodeB, a transceiver function, a radio router, a radiotransceiver, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS),or some other suitable terminology. The various concepts presentedthroughout this disclosure are intended to apply to all suitableentities regardless of their specific nomenclature.

The wireless communication system may be configured to support Long TermEvolution (LTE), which is a set of enhancements to the Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) mobile phone standard in order toimprove spectral efficiency, lower costs, improve services, make use ofnew spectrum, and better integrate with other open standards.

However, as those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, thevarious concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be extended toother suitable wireless technology and/or air interface standard. By wayof example, the wireless communication system may be an IEEE 802.11system supporting OFDM communication, an IS-2000, IS-95, IS-856, orwideband-CDMA (WCDMA) supporting CDMA communication, or a Global Systemfor Mobile Communication (GSM) supporting TDMA communication.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration for an apparatus 200, which can be a UE 102 or an eNodeB104. The apparatus 200 may include a wireless interface 202, aprocessing system 204, and a machine-readable medium 206. The wirelessinterface 202 includes one or more antennas and may include atransceiver to support two-way communications over the wireless medium.Alternatively, the wireless interface 202 may include a transmitter or areceiver to support one-way communications. In the detailed descriptionthat follows, the wireless interface 202 may be described as atransmitter or a receiver to illustrate a particular aspect of theinvention. Such a reference does not imply that the wireless interface202 is incapable of performing both transmit and receive operations.

The wireless interface 202 may be integrated into the processing system204 or distributed across multiple entities in the apparatus. Thewireless interface 202 and the processing system 204 may support theEvolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) air interface. E-UTRA isthe air interface of 3GPP's LTE upgrade path for mobile networks. E-UTRAuses orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) andmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology to support moreusers and higher data rates.

The processing system 204 may be implemented with one or moreprocessors. The one or more processors may be implemented with anycombination of general-purpose microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate array (FPGAs),programmable logic devices (PLDs), controllers, integrated circuits,state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware components, or any othersuitable entities that can perform calculations or other manipulationsof information.

The processing system 204 is coupled to machine-readable media 206 forstoring software. Alternatively, the processing system 204 may itselfinclude the machine-readable media 206. Software shall be construedbroadly to mean any type of instructions, whether referred to assoftware, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware descriptionlanguage, or otherwise. Instructions may include code (e.g., in sourcecode format, binary code format, executable code format, or any othersuitable format of code). The instructions, when executed by the one ormore processors, cause the processing system 204 to perform the variousfunctions described below, as well as various protocol processingfunctions.

The machine-readable media 206 may be random access memory (RAM), aflash memory, a read only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), anerasable PROM (EPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, a DVD, a carrier wave, a transmission line, any other suitablestorage device, or any other apparatus or means through which theinstructions may be transmitted.

The apparatus 200 is configured to operate on a perforated spectrum, andtherefore supports disjoint (i.e., noncontiguous) downlink (DL) anduplink (UL) frequency allocations and asymmetric DL/UL bandwidths, andcan transmit on disjoint frequency allocations (i.e., carriers) at agiven time. One of more of the carriers may be disjoint and/or haveasymmetric bandwidth as compared to the other of the carriers. Whetherthe carriers have asymmetric bandwidth may depend on the traffic demandsfor the UL and the DL. UEs with lower traffic demand or with a need toconserve battery power may utilize a DL carrier with a bandwidth of 5MHz, while UEs with a higher traffic demand may utilize multiple DLcarriers with larger bandwidths.

The apparatus 200 supports multi-segment operation on DL and UL in whichmultiple carriers are segmented within a particular bandwidth such thatthe multiple carriers have contiguous frequency allocations. Theapparatus 200 may enable low battery consumption through confiningcontrol and data transmission for a low data rate within a narrow band(e.g., 5 MHz), and provides backward compatibility with legacy systems,such as for example, LTE Release 8.

The DL transmission scheme for LTE systems is OFDMA based. The UL schememay be OFDMA, SC-FDMA, or an OFDMA/SC-FDMA hybrid with the possibilityfor switching between OFDMA and SC-FDMA in order to provide backwardcompatibility for single carrier assignment.

The apparatus 200 is further configured to support carrier pairingbetween the DL and UL carriers. The pairing can be between one or moreDL carriers and one or more UL carriers. In one configuration, at leastone DL carrier is paired with a plurality of UL carriers or a pluralityof DL carriers are paired with at least one UL carrier, such that thepairing group of DL and UL carriers contains at least three carriers.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of DL/UL carrierpairing for the apparatus 200. FIG. 3 shows one transmission timeinterval (TTI) 302 for three DL carriers, carrier 0 band 304, carrier 1band 306, and carrier 2 band 308. Each of the DL carriers includes alegacy control portion 310 and a payload portion 312. Carrier 0 band 304also includes a multicarrier control region 314 in the payload portion.In FIG. 3, carrier 0 band 304 is paired with one UL carrier 0 (328) andcarrier 1 band 306 and carrier 2 band 308 are both paired to a second ULcarrier 2 (330). FIG. 3 illustrates a mapping 320 of channel qualityindication (CQI) feedback and acknowledgment (ACK/NACK) messagescommunicated in the UL carrier 1 (330) that is paired with the two DLcarriers, carrier 1 band 306 and carrier 2 band 308. As shown in FIG. 3,the UL carrier 1 (330) shared by the two DL carriers receives CQIfeedback 322 and ACK 324 for DL carrier 1 and DL carrier 2 separatedinto different frequency bands of the UL carrier 1 (330). The ACK 324for DL carrier 1 begins at the CQI boundary and the ACK 326 for DLcarrier 2 is mapped to begin at a boundary mapped to the end of the ACKfor carrier 1, designated as CQI boundary for C2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the UL carrier 1 (330) is paired with two DLcarriers 306, 308; and the UL carrier 0 (328) is paired with the DLcarrier 304. UL carrier 0 (328) receives control information for DLcarrier 304 and UL carrier 1 (33) receives UL control information for DLcarriers 306, 308. The UL control information may include CQI feedbackand DL hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK/NACK feedback.Similarly, the DL carrier 304 receives DL control information for ULcarrier 0 (328) and DL carriers 306, 308 receive DL control informationfor UL carrier 1 (330). The DL control information includes UL HARQfeedback, UL grants, and DL grants.

Carrier pairing can be semi-static or dynamic as determined by theeNodeB 104. For semi-static pairing, the eNodeB 104 can notify all theUEs of the pairing by broadcasting the system information in a systeminformation block (SIB). Alternatively, the eNodeB 104 can inform eachUE 102 of the pairing with a dedicated signaling through radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling in the RRC connection setup message. For dynamicpairing, the eNodeB 104 can notify the UEs 102 of the pairing throughmedia access control (MAC) signaling included in the grant message.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating uplink/downlink pairing with anchorcarriers for the apparatus 200. As shown in FIG. 4, DL carrier 1 (DL C1)and DL carrier 2 (DL C2) are paired (400) with UL carrier 1 (UL C1) andDL carrier 3 (DL C3) is paired (402) with UL carrier 2 (UL C2). Asdiscussed supra, on which carrier control information is sent may bebased on the pairing. Alternatively, on which carrier controlinformation is sent may be based on whether there are designated anchorcarriers. When based on pairing, UL C1 receives control information forDL C1 and DL C2, DL C1 and DL C2 receive control information for UL C1,UL C2 receives control information for DL C3, and DL C3 receives controlinformation for UL C2. When based on whether there are designated anchorcarriers, control information is sent on the anchor carriers for one ormore of the corresponding carriers, even if the carriers are outside thepairing. For example, if DL C1 is designated as the anchor carrier (404)for DL carriers C1, C2, and C3 and UL C1 is designated as the anchorcarrier (406) for UL carriers C1 and C2, then UL C1 would receivecontrol information for DL carriers C1, C2, and C3, and DL C1 wouldreceive control information for UL carriers C1 and C2.

One or more anchor carriers can be defined for each of the uplinkcarriers and the downlink carriers. The transmission of controlinformation in uplink and downlink is based on the designated pairing orthe designated anchors for each of the uplink and downlink carriers. TheeNodeB 104 decides the pairing and communicates the pairing to UEs 102with which the eNodeB 104 is in communication. The eNodeB 104 maycommunicate the pairing through a system-information broadcast to allUEs 102 or through dedicated signaling to each UE 102. The UE 102receives pairing information from the eNodeB 104 and identifies thepairing from the broadcast or dedicated signaling.

As described with respect to FIG. 4, when there is an anchor carrier,control information for multiple DL carriers may be conveyed on one ULcarrier (a UL anchor carrier). The UL anchor carrier on which controlinformation for particular DL carriers is conveyed is not necessarilythe UL carrier with which the particular DL carriers are paired. TheeNodeB 104 may notify the UEs 102 of an anchor carrier in an SIB orthrough a dedicated signaling such as RRC signaling. The eNodeB 104notifies UEs 102 of the UL/DL pairing and any anchor carriers in SIBs.The SIBs may include carrier locations (i.e., carrier centerfrequencies), carrier bandwidths, carrier designation (UL/DL), carrierpairing, and anchor carrier information. In one configuration, some ofthe control information may be sent through the anchor carrier and othercontrol information may be sent through the paired carrier. For example,the eNodeB 104 could indicate with a flag through a broadcast or RRCsignaling that CQI feedback and/or DL HARQ feedback be sent on a pairedUL carrier rather than the designated UL anchor carrier.

UL HARQ feedback on DL may come on the DL carrier on which the UL grantwas sent. For multicarrier grants, HARQ feedbacks for different ULcarriers may be sent on the anchor carrier where the grant was sent.Resource mapping needs may be adjusted such that ACKs for differentcarriers are distinguished. In one configuration, a flag may indicatethat the HARQ feedback is sent on the DL carrier paired with the ULcarrier on which the transmission occurred, and not necessarily on thecarrier where the grant was sent. As discussed supra, the systeminformation may be conveyed through a broadcast or a dedicated signalingsuch as RRC signaling. If data is jointly coded across multiple ULcarriers used for data transmission to a UE 102, there could be onecorresponding HARQ feedback mapped on the anchor carrier on which the DLgrant (for all UL carriers to be used for UL transmission of a UE) wassent, or there could be multiple repeated HARQ feedbacks mapped on theDL carriers corresponding to the paired UL carriers where the ULtransmissions occurred.

DL HARQ feedback on UL may come on the UL carrier paired with the DLcarrier on which the grant was sent. For multicarrier grants, the HARQfeedbacks for different DL carriers may be sent on the UL carrier pairedwith the DL anchor carrier on which the grant was sent. Resource mappingmay allow ACKs for different carriers to be distinguished. Multiple DLcarriers may be mapped to one UL carrier. For SC-FDMA, an appropriateCQI feedback space shift may be used to compensate for the resourcesused by HARQ feedback for other DL carriers paired with the same ULcarrier. CQI feedback for all DL carriers may be sent on the blockdesignated for the feedback in the RRC signaling.

In addition to control information, the anchor carrier may also carrysystem information and data. An anchor carrier may be defined for asubset of the carriers. The subset may include all the carriers or maybe a proper subset and include less than all the carriers. As such,multiple anchor carriers may be defined for a set of carriers and theremay be several anchor carriers for different groups of carriers. If ananchor carrier is defined for just one carrier, the anchor carrier actsas a regular carrier. For example, if an UL carrier is the anchorcarrier for one DL carrier, the UL anchor carrier will act as a regularcarrier for the one DL carrier, as that UL carrier will not receiveinformation (i.e., system information, control information, data) forany other DL carriers.

Non-anchor carriers may carry legacy (e.g., LTE Release 8) systeminformation and an additional SIB to point to the anchor carrier. The DLgrant on the anchor carrier assigns DL resources on the other DLcarriers for which it is defined as an anchor carrier. DL grants on a DLcarrier that is not an anchor carrier can assign DL resources for thatcarrier only. A multicarrier assignment may come as one jointly codedgrant on the anchor carrier. The jointly coded grant may carryassignments for any carrier in the multicarrier group. DL/UL control canbe transmitted on the legacy control region or on a dedicated/specifiedadditional control space in the legacy data space. The UL grant on theanchor carrier assigns UL resources on the other UL carriers for whichit is defined as an anchor carrier. UL assignments across multiple ULcarriers could assume joint or independent data coding. UL grants on aDL carrier that is not an anchor carrier can assign only the resourcesfor the UL carrier with which the DL carrier is paired.

The eNodeB 104 includes a scheduler. The scheduler can be independentacross carriers or joint across all or a subset of carriers. When thedata is jointly coded across multiple carriers, the scheduler is a jointscheduler. A joint scheduler across multiple carriers, even in caseswhere it is not necessary, could provide better resource utilization.For the DL scheduler, a UE 102 may be scheduled on one or multiple DLcarriers. Each UL may carry independently or jointly coded packets incase of OFDMA based UL. For the UL scheduler, a UE 102 could bescheduled on one or multiple UL carriers. Each UL may carryindependently coded packets in case of SC-FDMA based UL. Each UL maycarry independently or jointly coded packets in case of OFDMA based UL.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating an exemplary algorithmimplemented by the processing system 204. The processing system 204,when implementing the algorithm, provides a means for determining apairing between one or more UL carriers and one or more DL carriers anda means for exchanging the control information on one or more of thecarriers based on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation. Theprocessing system 204 may reside in the eNodeB 104 or the UE 102 and isconfigured to determine the pairing of the DL and UL carriers (500).When the processing system 204 resides in the UE 102, the UE 102receives pairing information from the eNodeB 104 and identifies thepairing of the DL and UL carriers from the received pairing information.When the processing system 204 resides in the eNodeB, the processingsystem 204 decides the pairing of the DL and UL carriers andcommunicates the pairing to UEs 102 with which the eNodeB 104 is incommunication. The communication may be dedicated signaling toindividual UEs 102 or may be a system-information broadcast to all theUEs 102. In one configuration, the pairing is between at least one DLcarrier and a plurality of UL carriers or between a plurality of DLcarriers and at least one UL carrier. Generally, two or more DL carriersmay be paired with an UL carrier, two or more UL carriers may be pairedwith a DL carrier, or a plurality of DL carriers may be paired with aplurality of UL carriers. The processing system 204 determines on whichcarrier to exchange (i.e., to provide or to receive) control informationbased on the pairing or whether an anchor carrier has been designatedfor the carrier. When based on pairing, UL carriers carry controlinformation for DL carriers to which the UL carriers are paired, and DLcarriers carry control information for UL carriers to which the DLcarriers are paired. When based on a designated anchor carrier, thedesignated anchor carrier carries the control information for thecarriers for which the anchor carrier is designated. The anchor carriermay or may not be within the pairing. After determining which carrierscarry the control information, the processing system 204 exchanges(i.e., provides or receives) the control information on one or more ofthe carriers based on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation(502).

With respect to step 502, when the processing system 204 resides in a UE102, the UE 102 receives control information in DL on one or more of thecarriers based on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation andprovides control information in UL on one or more of the carriers basedon the pairing or an anchor carrier designation. Similarly, when theprocessing system 204 resides in an eNodeB 104, the eNodeB 104 receivescontrol information in UL on one or more of the carriers based on thepairing or an anchor carrier designation and provides controlinformation in DL on one or more of the carriers based on the pairing oran anchor carrier designation.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating the functionality ofan exemplary apparatus. The apparatus 200 includes a module to determinea pairing of the downlink and uplink carriers (602) and a module toprovide or receive the control information on one or more of thecarriers based on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation (604).The modules 602 and 604 may be a part of the processing system 204and/or the wireless interface 202.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to fully understand the full scope of the disclosure. Modificationsto the various configurations disclosed herein will be readily apparentto those skilled in the art. Thus, the claims are not intended to belimited to the various aspects of the disclosure described herein, butis to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of claims,wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one ormore.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers toone or more. A claim that recites at least one of a combination ofelements (e.g., “at least one of A, B, or C”) refers to one or more ofthe recited elements (e.g., A, or B, or C, or any combination thereof).All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the variousaspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or latercome to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expresslyincorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed bythe claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to bededicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure isexplicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construedunder the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, unless theelement is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in thecase of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “stepfor.”

1. A method used in a wireless communication system, comprising:determining a pairing between one or more uplink carriers and one ormore downlink carriers, the one or more uplink carriers and the one ormore downlink carriers comprising at least three carriers; andexchanging control information on one or more of the carriers based onthe pairing or an anchor carrier designation.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the determining the pairing comprises deciding the pairingbetween the one or more uplink carriers and the one or more downlinkcarriers.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the pairingcomprises identifying the pairing between the one or more uplinkcarriers and the one or more downlink carriers from broadcasted systeminformation or dedicated signaling.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinwhen based on the pairing, the exchanging the control informationcomprises exchanging on all of the one or more uplink carriers thecontrol information for the one or more downlink carriers to which theone or more uplink carriers are paired.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein when based on the pairing, the exchanging the controlinformation comprises exchanging on all of the one or more downlinkcarriers the control information for the one or more uplink carriers towhich the one or more downlink carriers are paired.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein when an anchor carrier is designated for uplink, theexchanging the control information comprises exchanging on thedesignated uplink anchor carrier all the control information for the oneor more downlink carriers to which the one or more uplink carriers arepaired.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the designated uplink anchorcarrier is not paired with the one or more downlink carriers to whichone or more other uplink carriers are paired.
 8. The method of claim 6,wherein the designated uplink anchor carrier is one of the one or moreuplink carriers.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein when an anchorcarrier is designated for downlink, the exchanging the controlinformation comprises exchanging on the designated downlink anchorcarrier all the control information for the one or more uplink carriersto which the one or more downlink carriers are paired.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the designated downlink anchor carrier is not pairedwith the one or more uplink carriers to which one or more other downlinkcarriers are paired.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the designateddownlink anchor carrier is one of the one or more downlink carriers. 12.The method of claim 1, wherein the control information comprises atleast one of channel quality indication feedback, hybrid automaticrepeat request feedback, downlink grants, or uplink grants.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the control information is exchanged withindata space of the carriers.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein at leastone of the at least three paired carriers have at least one of adisjoint frequency allocation or an asymmetric bandwidth as compared tothe other of the at least three paired carriers.
 15. The method of claim1, wherein: determining the pairing comprises determining a plurality ofpairings for all available downlink carriers and uplink carriers; and atleast one of said all the downlink carriers and the uplink carriers haveat least one of a disjoint frequency allocation or an asymmetricbandwidth as compared to the other of said all the downlink carriers andthe uplink carriers.
 16. An apparatus operable in a wirelesscommunication system, comprising: means for determining a pairingbetween one or more uplink carriers and one or more downlink carriers,the one or more uplink carriers and the one or more downlink carrierscomprising at least three carriers; and means for exchanging controlinformation on one or more of the carriers based on the pairing or ananchor carrier designation.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein themeans for determining the pairing decides the pairing between the one ormore uplink carriers and the one or more downlink carriers.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for determining the pairingidentifies the pairing between the one or more uplink carriers and theone or more downlink carriers from broadcasted system information ordedicated signaling.
 19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein when basedon the pairing, the means for exchanging the control informationexchanges on all of the one or more uplink carriers the controlinformation for the one or more downlink carriers to which the one ormore uplink carriers are paired.
 20. The apparatus of claim 16, whereinwhen based on the pairing, the means for exchanging the controlinformation exchanges on all of the one or more downlink carriers thecontrol information for the one or more uplink carriers to which the oneor more downlink carriers are paired.
 21. The apparatus of claim 16,wherein when an anchor carrier is designated for uplink, the means forexchanging the control information exchanges on the designated uplinkanchor carrier all the control information for the one or more downlinkcarriers to which the one or more uplink carriers are paired.
 22. Theapparatus of claim 21, wherein the designated uplink anchor carrier isnot paired with the one or more downlink carriers to which one or moreother uplink carriers are paired.
 23. The apparatus of claim 21, whereinthe designated uplink anchor carrier is one of the one or more uplinkcarriers.
 24. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein when an anchor carrieris designated for downlink, the means for exchanging the controlinformation exchanges on the designated downlink anchor carrier all thecontrol information for the one or more uplink carriers to which the oneor more downlink carriers are paired.
 25. The apparatus of claim 24,wherein the designated downlink anchor carrier is not paired with theone or more uplink carriers to which one or more other downlink carriersare paired.
 26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the designateddownlink anchor carrier is one of the one or more downlink carriers. 27.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the control information comprises atleast one of channel quality indication feedback, hybrid automaticrepeat request feedback, downlink grants, or uplink grants.
 28. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the control information is exchangedwithin data space of the carriers.
 29. The apparatus of claim 16,wherein at least one of the at least three paired carriers have at leastone of a disjoint frequency allocation or an asymmetric bandwidth ascompared to the other of the at least three paired carriers.
 30. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein: the means for determining the pairingdetermines a plurality of pairings for all available downlink carriersand uplink carriers; and at least one of said all the downlink carriersand the uplink carriers have at least one of a disjoint frequencyallocation or an asymmetric bandwidth as compared to the other of saidall the downlink carriers and the uplink carriers.
 31. An apparatusoperable in a wireless communication system, comprising: a processingsystem configured to: determine a pairing between one or more uplinkcarriers and one or more downlink carriers, the one or more uplinkcarriers and the one or more downlink carriers comprising at least threecarriers; and exchange control information on one or more of thecarriers based on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation.
 32. Theapparatus of claim 31, wherein to determine the pairing, the processingsystem is configured to decide the pairing between the one or moreuplink carriers and the one or more downlink carriers.
 33. The apparatusof claim 31, wherein to determine the pairing, the processing system isconfigured to identify the pairing between the one or more uplinkcarriers and the one or more downlink carriers from broadcasted systeminformation or dedicated signaling.
 34. The apparatus of claim 31,wherein when based on the pairing, the processing system is configuredto exchange on all of the one or more uplink carriers the controlinformation for the one or more downlink carriers to which the one ormore uplink carriers are paired.
 35. The apparatus of claim 31, whereinwhen based on the pairing, the processing system is configured toexchange on all of the one or more downlink carriers the controlinformation for the one or more uplink carriers to which the one or moredownlink carriers are paired.
 36. The apparatus of claim 31, whereinwhen an anchor carrier is designated for uplink, the processing systemis configured to exchange on the designated uplink anchor carrier allthe control information for the one or more downlink carriers to whichthe one or more uplink carriers are paired.
 37. The apparatus of claim36, wherein the designated uplink anchor carrier is not paired with theone or more downlink carriers to which one or more other uplink carriersare paired.
 38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the designated uplinkanchor carrier is one of the one or more uplink carriers.
 39. Theapparatus of claim 31, wherein when an anchor carrier is designated fordownlink, the processing system is configured to exchange on thedesignated downlink anchor carrier all the control information for theone or more uplink carriers to which the one or more downlink carriersare paired.
 40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the designateddownlink anchor carrier is not paired with the one or more uplinkcarriers to which one or more other downlink carriers are paired. 41.The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the designated downlink anchorcarrier is one of the one or more downlink carriers.
 42. The apparatusof claim 31, wherein the control information comprises at least one ofchannel quality indication feedback, hybrid automatic repeat requestfeedback, downlink grants, or uplink grants.
 43. The apparatus of claim31, wherein the control information is exchanged within data space ofthe carriers.
 44. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein at least one of theat least three paired carriers have at least one of a disjoint frequencyallocation or an asymmetric bandwidth as compared to the other of the atleast three paired carriers.
 45. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein: todetermining the pairing, the processing system is configured todetermine a plurality of pairings for all available downlink carriersand uplink carriers; and at least one of said all the downlink carriersand the uplink carriers have at least one of a disjoint frequencyallocation or an asymmetric bandwidth as compared to the other of saidall the downlink carriers and the uplink carriers.
 46. A computerprogram product, comprising: a computer-readable medium, comprising:code for determining a pairing between one or more uplink carriers andone or more downlink carriers, the one or more uplink carriers and theone or more downlink carriers comprising at least three carriers; andcode for exchanging control information on one or more of the carriersbased on the pairing or an anchor carrier designation.
 47. The computerprogram product of claim 46, wherein the code for determining thepairing comprises code for deciding the pairing between the one or moreuplink carriers and the one or more downlink carriers.
 48. The computerprogram product of claim 46, wherein the code for determining thepairing comprises code for identifying the pairing between the one ormore uplink carriers and the one or more downlink carriers frombroadcasted system information or dedicated signaling.
 49. The computerprogram product of claim 46, wherein when based on the pairing, the codefor exchanging the control information comprises code for exchanging onall of the one or more uplink carriers the control information for theone or more downlink carriers to which the one or more uplink carriersare paired.
 50. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein whenbased on the pairing, the code for exchanging the control informationcomprises code for exchanging on all of the one or more downlinkcarriers the control information for the one or more uplink carriers towhich the one or more downlink carriers are paired.
 51. The computerprogram product of claim 46, wherein when an anchor carrier isdesignated for uplink, the code for exchanging the control informationcomprises code for exchanging on the designated uplink anchor carrierall the control information for the one or more downlink carriers towhich the one or more uplink carriers are paired.
 52. The computerprogram product of claim 51, wherein the designated uplink anchorcarrier is not paired with the one or more downlink carriers to whichone or more other uplink carriers are paired.
 53. The computer programproduct of claim 51, wherein the designated uplink anchor carrier is oneof the one or more uplink carriers.
 54. The computer program product ofclaim 46, wherein when an anchor carrier is designated for downlink, thecode for exchanging the control information comprises code forexchanging on the designated downlink anchor carrier all the controlinformation for the one or more uplink carriers to which the one or moredownlink carriers are paired.
 55. The computer program product of claim54, wherein the designated downlink anchor carrier is not paired withthe one or more uplink carriers to which one or more other downlinkcarriers are paired.
 56. The computer program product of claim 54,wherein the designated downlink anchor carrier is one of the one or moredownlink carriers.
 57. The computer program product of claim 46, whereinthe control information comprises at least one of channel qualityindication feedback, hybrid automatic repeat request feedback, downlinkgrants, or uplink grants.
 58. The computer program product of claim 46,wherein the control information is exchanged within data space of thecarriers.
 59. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein at leastone of the at least three paired carriers have at least one of adisjoint frequency allocation or an asymmetric bandwidth as compared tothe other of the at least three paired carriers.
 60. The computerprogram product of claim 46, wherein: the code for determining thepairing comprises code for determining a plurality of pairings for allavailable downlink carriers and uplink carriers; and at least one ofsaid all the downlink carriers and the uplink carriers have at least oneof a disjoint frequency allocation or an asymmetric bandwidth ascompared to the other of said all the downlink carriers and the uplinkcarriers.